Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. Makes New Investment in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK)

Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in SmartFinancial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMBK) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 154,134 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,491,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in SmartFinancial by 5,269.2% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,370 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in SmartFinancial in the 3rd quarter worth $161,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in SmartFinancial in the 1st quarter worth $271,000. Creative Planning acquired a new position in SmartFinancial in the 3rd quarter worth $394,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in SmartFinancial in the 3rd quarter worth $415,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.78% of the company’s stock.

SmartFinancial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SMBK opened at $35.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. SmartFinancial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.00 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.03. The company has a market cap of $608.29 million, a PE ratio of 18.91 and a beta of 0.67.

SmartFinancial (NASDAQ:SMBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. SmartFinancial had a net margin of 11.88% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The business had revenue of $73.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SmartFinancial, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

SmartFinancial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. SmartFinancial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on SMBK. Piper Sandler lowered shares of SmartFinancial from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $28.00 to $32.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of SmartFinancial in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of SmartFinancial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.50.

SmartFinancial Profile

SmartFinancial, Inc operates as the bank holding company for SmartBank that provides various financial services to individuals and corporate customers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. It operates through Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Real Estate, Construction and Land Development, Commercial and Industrial, Leases, and Consumer and Other segments.